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Fantasy Basketball: Anthony Davis Show Continues

By Bryan Gibberman

Dec 2, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) looks on from the court against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 2, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) looks on from the court against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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Here’s a look at Thursday’s NBA action from a fantasy basketball perspective.

Cleveland Cavaliers 90 New York Knicks 87

  • In somewhat of a surprise Iman Shumpert started off the season being a productive player for fantasy purposes. That time has come to a screeching halt as he scored zero points on 0-of-4 shooting with six rebounds, four assists and two steals Thursday night. In the first 11 games Shumpert played this season, he averaged 13.2 points, 3.6 assists, 3.9 rebounds and one steal per game with .520/.530/.750 shooting splits. In the last eight games, it’s been six points, 2.6 assists, 3.1 rebounds and less than one steal per game on .260/.120/.600 shooting splits. I’m a New York Knicks fan, so sigh.
  • Amar’e Stoudemire has been good at the sport of basketball recently, at least on the offensive end. Luckily for fantasy basketball, the defensive end doesn’t matter besides steals and blocks. STAT put up 18 points, nine rebounds, one steal and one block to continue a nice stretch of play. Over the last five games Amar’e is averaging 16.8 points, 9.4 rebounds (I sweat I’m not lying) on just under 60 percent shooting. On this despicable Knicks roster, Stoudemire has the opportunity to continue to put up good lines barring injuries.
  • The only three Cavs players worth playing in fantasy hoops continues to be Kyrie Irving, LeBron James and Kevin Love with maybe a touch of Anderson Varejao. Dion Waiters and Shawn Marion no longer have any use in this realm.

Portland Trail Blazers 88 Indiana Pacers 82

  • Starting lineup change alert for the Pacers. The Donald Sloan point guard era has come to an end. Head coach Frank Vogel put out Rodney Stuckey, Solomon Hill, Chris Copeland, David West and Roy Hibbert. In his first game starting at point guard (he’s started at the two) Stuckey put up 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, but did have four turnovers. David West has scored in double figures in all four of his game since returning from injury. He’s averaging 13.8 points on 45 percent shooting with 6.5 rebounds. He played plus 30 minutes for the first time last night.
  • With the Blazers not much has changed — all five starters are worth playing, but no one else has much value. Chris Kaman isn’t a terrible spot start in the right matchups with teams that lack a low post defender.

Golden State Warriors 112 New Orleans Pelicans 85

  • This was the main event of the evening from actual watching basketball and fantasy hoops. Anthony Davis vs. Steph Curry, yes please, thank you, moreeeeeeeeee. The Warriors won the game, but Brow took down the fake basketball MVP that I just made up. Davis had a ho-hum 30 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals. Not bad. Curry piled up 19 points and 11 assists. These two have been the best fantasy ballers to this point in the season.

Next: NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of All Time